Rapunzel
by itanejiluver
Summary: Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a man named Hiashi made a bargain with a witch. The result of the bargain is his son being handed off to Madame Gothel...based on the story of Rapunzel. Rated M for m-preg and mild graphicness. See inside for further summary and notice. Yaoi, Au, pairing: itaneji.


**a/n**: Hi everybody! So, I figured it was time to start a new story, and this short little Rapunzel-themed idea came to me. This was written really quickly, and the ending is kind of bad, but otherwise I'm pretty proud of how this turned out. It definitely isn't my best writing, but I think you all will still enjoy this!

Notes about the AU for this story: Magic and male pregnancy are common factors in daily life.

Warnings: there are some graphic descriptions of the injuries that Itachi sustains towards the end. M-preg (non-detailed), yaoi. Also, some domestic violence. Disclaimer on my profile…onwards to the story!

Rapunzel

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a poor man named Hiashi, and his pregnant wife. The poor, but happy couple lived in a small cottage next to a witch's garden.

As the young woman drew closer and closer to the expected birth date of her child, she glimpsed the most delicious looking plant over the garden fence.

"Doesn't that plant look lovely? What is its name?" she asked Hiashi.

Hiashi smiled fondly at his wife. "That is the rapunzel plant—it's similar to cabbage."

The wife shivered suddenly as a strong craving shook her to the core of her very being. "I must have that plant. Do you know where we can get it from?'

Hiashi felt alarm spreading through his mind. "Only witches can grow it. It's not possible for us to have it," he told his wife sternly.

"I must have it!" she cried. "Without it, I shall die!"

However, Hiashi remained adamant, and refused to get the rapunzel for his wife; they were poor, and couldn't barter with the witch for the food. Days passed, and Hiashi could see his wife getting paler, thinner, and sicker with each passing day. At last, when she was nearly on the brink of death, Hiashi relented. That night he stole in to the witch's garden, hopped over her sturdy brown fence, and stole a head of rapunzel. He fed it to his wife that night, and was relieved to see her instantly return to her former healthy state.

His thefts continued on for three more days. Finally, on the fourth night, he slipped over the fence only to find a woman staring down at him appraisingly as she shone a lantern in to his eyes.

Hiashi threw up his arm to cover his eyes, and fell to his knees in terror. Madame Gothel was a powerful witch, and he was terrified of her wrath.

"So _you_ are the little rat who has been stealing my precious rapunzel?" she mused. "What say you, that we turn you in to an actual rat as a fit punishment for your crime?"

Hiashi felt a stab of fear in his heart. "No—I'll do anything!" Who would provide for his wife, and his soon-to-be-born child if he was a rat?

Gothel paused. "…Anything? Really, you'll do _anything_?"

"Anything," Hiashi promised, sweat running down his brow. "Anything—please, my wife needs to eat your rapunzel. Without it, she'll die!"

Gothel raised an elegant eyebrow. "And so, you resorted to stealing from my garden at night?"

"We are very poor," Hiashi said miserably. "We have no way of paying you for the rapunzel."

Gothel deliberated for a few moments before naming her terms. "You will give unto me your child when it is born."

"_What?_

"In exchange for your child, I will supply your wife with all the rapunzel she needs, and I will personally oversee her childbirth." Gothel inspected her nails under the lamp light. "I believe it is a fair trade."

Hiashi felt rage bubbling up through his body, but he suppressed his emotions; if he didn't agree to the deal, then his wife would die without the rapunzel. "Very well," he choked out. "In exchange for the rapunzel, and your attending to my wife in childbirth, we will give you our child as payment."

Gothel smirked. "Then we have a deal." She produced a burlap sack from under her cloak and handed it to Hiashi; he opened it, and was astonished to find several heads of rapunzel in the bag.

"Just knock on the door when you need more rapunzel." She turned around and swept out of the garden, back towards her house.

Hiashi stood in the dark for several minutes before returning to his own home, his shoulders heavy. He wasn't looking forward to explaining the situation to his wife.

Chapter 1

Two months passed, and Hiashi's wife finally went in to child labor. Hiashi ran next door for Gothel, who came running back with him. True to her word, Gothel oversaw Hiashi's wife's entire labor, and carefully cleaned and cared for both her and her newborn.

Hiashi felt a wave of fatherly pride wash over him as he looked at his wife cradling their son on her bed; then, his eyes slid to Gothel who had a look of impatience and expectance mixed on her face.

"Darling," he cleared his throat, which had suddenly gotten tight.

She looked up at Hiashi, smiling. "Come here, Hiashi—hold your son."

Hiashi complied, tears burning in the corners of his eyes. "What shall we name him?" he asked his wife softly.

Gothel twitched. "It is not your place to name the child," she snapped harshly. "The child is mine now—give him to me. You'll never see him again!"

Hiashi's wife burst in to tears. "No—but—"

"No buts," Gothel sneered. "Your husband agreed to the bargain, which I have carried out in full. Now, give me the child!"

Weeping, Hiashi and his wife clung to their son, but Gothel was not to be trifled with. Soon enough, she had wrested the child away from it's parents grasp, and left the cottage.

Inside their little home, Hiashi and his wife wept in each other's arms. "To think…if I'd never seen that rapunzel plant…" his wife hiccoughed.

Hiashi shook his head, and allowed her to sob in to his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Gothel was already far away in the middle of the woods. She had lived a long time, and despite having various beaus and lovers, she had never borne a child. Later, she'd used her magics to discern that she was sterile, and would never be able to give birth. She had always wanted a child; her life had felt empty, up until now. She sighed softly, and gazed fondly at the sleeping baby in her arms.

"Your name is Neji. Neji Rapunzel Hyuga," she murmured softly. "So named." She'd gotten to know Hiashi and his wife quite well over the past month, and she knew that that was what Hiashi had wanted as a name for his child. It was a good mix of his parentage; the name from his biological parents, the name of the plant that had caused the whole mess, and the surname of his parents. Perfect.

Gothel sighed as she approached the base of the tower; everything was already in place. For now, she would live with the baby, until it grew old enough to care for itself. Then, she would venture back in to the outside world. She used magic to levitate herself up in to the tall tower; there was one room, and one window. There were no stairs to enter the castle with; this way, her baby would be safe from the outside world…and this way, her baby would never be able to leave her.

XXX

Fifteen year old Neji Rapunzel Hyuga stared out his window and sighed longingly. What did grass feel like? He only ever saw the bright green meadows from his tower window; Mother Tsunade never allowed him out of the tower.

He remembered when he'd first learned what mother's _real_ name was—she'd brought a basket, and showed him some documents signed "M. Gothel". She'd giggled and told him that Gothel was just a fake name; Tsunade was her true name. Neji understood why she went under a fake name; Tsunade was a powerful sorceress, and in the world of magic, one's true name could be used in all sorts of nasty, vengeful magic.

Tsunade had always called him 'Rapunzel'. Personally, Neji referred to himself as 'Neji' in his head; it was easy enough to reconcile the two names, but Neji wondered why things had turned out that way.

Neji laughed at himself for thinking too much, but then sighed and slumped down over the windowsill—he had been locked up in a tower for fifteen years. What else was there to do besides thinking?

Neji tried to cheer himself up by singing. He opened his lips, and his clear singing voice filled the tower clearing and expanded through the woods. He closed his eyes and rested his head on his palm as he continued singing a beautiful melody.

"My love is like a red, red rose

That's newly sprung in June :

My love is like the melody

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in love am I :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,

And fare thee weel a while !

And I will come again, my love,

Thou' it were ten thousand mile."

Neji sighed when the song finished—the words were actually from a poem, that Neji had set to a simple melody. He licked his dry lips, and decided that glass of cool water would be good for his parched throat; he turned away and went back in to the room, unaware of the young man standing at the edge of the clearing, staring up at the tower in awe.

A young man named Itachi Uchiha, with long black hair and gentle black eyes edged in to the clearing with a single tower. He couldn't see any entrance of some sort, but there was an open window on the far side of the tower. He sighed in rapture; he'd been lured here by the melodious voice singing a melancholy love song. That voice! He desperately wanted to meet the singer—his eyes widened as a middle-aged woman with large breasts and blonde hair entered the clearing. He dove in to a bush, and held his breath; thankfully, she never noticed him, and walked up to the base of the tower.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Itachi raised an eyebrow when a long, silken braid of cinnamon brown hair was lowered out the window. The woman took hold of the braid, and Itachi watched as someone hoisted the braid up from the tower window.

He smiled a slow, smug smirk; now, he knew how to enter the tower.

XXX

Itachi returned to the clearing at night, and held his breath nervously as he entered the clearing. He wondered what the singer looked like—was it a girl, or a boy? Itachi was fairly sure that the singer had been male, but you never knew these days. After all, Rapunzel was a very feminine name, but the singer's voice had been a bit too deep to be a girl's. Was the singer beautiful for ugly? Itachi's hands tightened around the basket in his hands before relaxing; all he had to do was go up in to the tower, express his admiration for the singer, give him or her the tokens of his admiration, and then be on his way. It was simple…easy.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" he called out, his heart in his mouth. What if this Rapunzel character didn't let down his hair? What if…

Itachi sighed in relief when the braid was thrown out the tower window. He seized the braid, and allowed himself to be tugged up in to the window.

Neji gasped when he realized that it hadn't been Tsunade calling out to him from the ground. Instead, a handsome young man was crouched on his windowsill, blinking owlishly in the face of the fire-lit room. "May I come inside?"

Neji lunged for the weapon closest to him, which happened to be a frying pan. "Who are you? What do you want?" He waved the weapon threateningly at the intruder.

The man chuckled, and released his hair. "I have no intention of harming you. You can put down your cookingware."

Neji glared, and hung on to the panhandle.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha. I heard you singing this morning, and I wanted to tell you how beautiful your voice is," Itachi said honestly. "I brought you food."

Neji eyed him warily for a moment before lowering the frying pan; the emotion in Itachi's voice had been too sincere for him not to believe it.

"Come in then. But if you try anything fishy, I will personally introduce the back of your head to this frying pan."

Itachi chuckled. "Don't worry, I have no intentions of having such a close bond with your weapon."

Neji smiled; at least the intruder had a sense of humor. "Would you like a seat?" He gestured toward the comfy-looking sofa.

"Sure." Itachi settled down gratefully while Neji settled down in to a chair across from him. "So…why do you live in this tower?"

"I've lived here my whole life, since the day I was born."

"Haven't you ever wanted to leave?"

"Of course!" Neji exclaimed. "This place is my prison; I want to go outside and live my life. Unfortunately, my mother won't allow it, and there's no way for me to go outside."

"Your mother?"

"Yes."

"Does she allow you to have visitors?"

Neji felt a small blush settle high on his cheeks. "You're my very first visitor," he admitted softly. "So I don't know."

"You seem comfortable enough in here." Itachi looked curiously around the room; he could see that the tower only had one room, and it had been arranged in to a cozy living space with all the proper necessities. "Why has she locked you up in here? Where's your father?"

Neji shrugged. "I don't know who my father was. I don't know why mother has locked me up here—she says that it's to protect me from the bad things in the world."

"She sounds controlling."

Neji giggled. "You think so?"

Itachi smiled flirtatiously; Neji's beauty didn't compare to anyone he'd ever met in his life. He wasn't going to miss this chance to pick up such a beauty. He stood up and said, "It's late…I need to return to my little brother and my parents in the village. May I come see you again?"

Neji started. "You're going already? But you just arrived!"

"My parents will worry if I stay out too late."

Neji bit his lip. "…I'm worried that you'll be caught by mother when you come visit, though."

"When does your mother come visit you?"

"She comes during the day time."

"Then, I will come during the night. That way, we'll never meet." Itachi saw Neji's hesitant expression, and tried to encourage him. "Come on—you've lived basically on your own for fifteen years. Don't you want some company?"

That did the trick. Neji nodded hesitantly. "You can come by at night then," he said softly.

Itachi grinned. "I'll see you soon then."

Neji got up and walked over to the window before tossing his braid down the side. "I'll see you soon." Itachi winked at him before hopping off the windowsill and shimmying down Neji's braid. Finally, Itachi reached the base of the tower, and took off in to the night. Neji smiled softly as he methodically drew his hair back up in to the room; he walked over to the basket Itachi had left behind, and opened it. Inside the straw basket, two small cakes and a bottle of lemonade resided.

"A tribute to your lovely singing voice," Neji read aloud from the small slip of paper that Itachi had slipped inside the basket. Beaming, he lifted the note up to his lips before taking the basket and concealing it in his wardrobe where Tsunade wouldn't find out about it.

Chapter 2

Itachi and Neji continued to meet secretly at night over the next few months. Neji found that Itachi was easy to talk to, and a lot of fun to be around. Through Itachi, Neji was able to learn all about the outside world. At first, he was confused and frightened because Tsunade had always told him that the outside world was dangerous and full of bad people, and that it was a hazardous place to live in. Itachi changed his entire view of the world—true, from what Itachi said, the outside world did have bad people, and bad things and dangerous situations occurred often. However, Neji could also see that the outside world was full of good things as well; kindness and hope persevered through this world. Itachi's tales of his village made Neji's longing for escape increase with every visit.

Somewhere along the road, Neji and Itachi had gotten in to a relationship. Neji knew all about relationships from his books and from Itachi and Tsunade, and he hoped that Itachi was as happy as he was. They'd progressed fairly far along by the time Itachi had come up with an idea to help Neji to escape from the tower.

"I'll bring you bits of silk. You can take the silk, and make it in to a ladder. Then, when the ladder is finished, you can hang it out your window and run away with me to the outside world."

"But…Mother…" Neji said worriedly, "Mother is a powerful woman. She'll find us no matter where we go."

"We'll run far away," Itachi promised. "She won't be able to find us then!"

"You'd do that?"

"I would do anything to be with you, Neji," Itachi said seriously as he stroked Neji's cheek. "Anything…even if that means leaving my own family behind."

Neji nodded, his eyes bright with unshed tears. "I'll do it, then."

"Good." From that day onward, whenever Itachi came to visit, he would bring bits of silk with him. Neji wound the pieces of silk in to a firm strong rope, and then started shaping it in to a ladder.

The ladder was almost finished, when one day, Tsunade came to visit in the morning. They were sitting, drinking tea, when Tsunade asked Neji how he was doing.

"I'm doing great," he assured her. "Although…lately, my clothes have been feeling a bit tight around my belly."

Tsunade's eyebrows shot up. She'd been feeding Neji the same foods day in and day out; how could he be getting any fatter? Unless…

Her eyes narrowed, and her hands moved to create the magical seals. Her eyes widened, and then narrowed in sheer anger while Neji remained frozen in his seat.

"You're pregnant," she hissed coldly.

"I'm _what_?"

"You're pregnant." Tsunade jumped to her feet, and seized Neji in her rage. "Slut! Whore! Who was it?! Who gave you a child?" she shook Neji so hard his teeth rattled in his head; he was sobbing in pain and confusion. "Oh—it doesn't matter. You've betrayed me!" she snarled. She released Neji and threw him to the ground. Neji struggled to catch his breath, but suddenly they were in a different place. Neji felt fear lance through his body as he realized that they were in the very heart of the forest.

"You can stay here and die!" Tsunade spat. "Traitor—I trusted you to never get contact with the outside world! Now look what you've done, you little fool—you're no son to me!" With that, she roughly seized Neji's hair and pulled out a knife. Neji screamed, thinking that Tsunade would slit his throat. Instead, Tsunade roughly yanked the blade through his hair before vanishing with his braid.

Neji stared about him in terror, as he realized that he was pregnant…and that he was all alone in the wilderness, with no one to help him.

XXX

Tsunade returned to the tower in a dark rage. She would meet this young man who had impregnated her son, and she would kill him! Sneering, she settled down in the tower to wait for the man's arrival.

Itachi hastened to the base of the tower in the evening; the ladder was nearly finished. He and Neji would finish it tonight, and then run away tomorrow. "Neji—let down your hair!"

Itachi watched as Neji flung his braid out the window; he seized it, and watched the ground recede as he was tugged up towards the window.

"Neji, my love-" He stopped short when he realized that Neji wasn't in the room. His blood turned to ice, and he slowly turned around to face a middle-aged woman with blonde pigtails and large breasts standing by the windowsill.

"Looking for someone, _my love_?" she sneered.

Itachi's heart stuttered, but then he pulled up the courage to stand up to the woman. He recognized her; she was a powerful sorceress that frequented his village often. "What have you done with Neji?"

"Does it matter? You'll never see him again!" she shouted. Itachi watched, as if he were underwater as the woman lunged towards him and shoved him over the edge of the windowsill.

Then, he was falling; his stomach rose up in his mouth, he couldn't tell which was up or down—

He land in a briar hedge and screamed as the thorns dug in to his eyes, and his body. He couldn't see—he desperately clawed at his face, and tears joined the streams of blood dripping from his eyes.

He heard the chilling voice of the witch laughing down at him from the tower. Itachi scrambled out of the briars, and began to run blindly through the forest, a trail of blood and tears outlining his path.

XXX

Itachi wandered through the forest for five years. Eventually, after stumbling blindly for a while, he'd happened across a kind family who'd been horrified at the damage done to his face and body. When they asked him what had befallen him, he refused to answer, and stared forward in silence.

Now, he wandered blindly through the wilderness, despairing. The witch had said that he would never see Neji again; well that was true, he was blind. But what had happened to Neji? How had she figured out what was going on? Was Neji even alive?

Itachi fell in to a deep depression, and retreated farther and farther in to the woods. He located a cave, and with many trials and tribulations, managed to set up a dwelling there. He lived by himself for three more years, wandering aimlessly as he mourned the loss of Neji.

One day, he had wandered far from his cave. He wondered if he would be able to make it back; figuring that he should start heading back before he was too deeply lost in the woods, he paused as he heard a melodic voice drifting faintly through the trees.

"_My love is like a red, red rose…_"

Itachi stood frozen in the forest.

"_That's newly sprung in June…"_

Unthinkingly, his knees numb, Itachi began moving towards the source of the song.

"_As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, so deep in love am I…_"

Itachi broke out in to a shuffling run, his heart beating violently in his chest. Could it be…

Itachi felt sunlight on his face, and he knew that he'd run in to a clearing. The song broke off as the singer startled at Itachi's sudden appearance.

"Keep going!" Itachi begged hoarsely. "Please…don't stop…"

He heard Neji take a deep breath, and then continue singing in a wavering voice as he fought off tears.

"And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,

And fare thee weel a while !

And I will come again, my love,

Thou' it were ten thousand mile."

Neji's voice trailed off, and then Itachi held out his arms. "Neji?"

"Itachi…" Neji's voice murmured from the center of the clearing. "Itachi…" Then, there was the sound of running footsteps, and Itachi fell over when he Neji flung himself in to his arms.

Neji was crying, and Itachi reached out with a calloused thumb to try and wipe the tears of Neji's cheek.

"Itachi, what's wrong with your eyes?"

"I'm blind," he said hoarsely.

Neji wept over his face, his tears trickling down on to Itachi's opaque eyes. "Oh Itachi, I'm so sorry…I never…I never…!"

"I know," Itachi comforted him. His blinked, frowning slightly. Was it just him, or…was that…

He stared up in shock at Neji's tear-stricken face. "I can see!"

Neji smiled tearily and kissed him. "Itachi…"

"Neji."

They weren't sure how long they remained in each other's arms, drinking in the other's presence after eight years of separation.

Eventually though, Neji lead Itachi back to his home in a small village on the edge of the forest. They learned what happened to the other over the past eight years.

Itachi was stunned, and then deeply saddened when Neji explained what had happened to him. "Tsunade found out," Neji said bitterly. "She realized that I was pregnant, and the whole mess started…even I didn't know that I was pregnant at the time."

"What happened to the child?"

Neji's mouth twisted. "I was too young, and my body was in such a poor state at the time of the birth…the baby was stillborn," he said softly. "I'm sorry, Itachi."

Itachi shook his head. "I'm sorry too. That must have been difficult." He squeezed Neji's hands.

Neji smiled through his pain. "Yes. I never knew…all this time, I never knew what had happened to you."

"I know. It was the same for me."

"Tsunade is dead. I told her true name to a wizard who had a grudge with her, and she was forced in to servitude, where she died recently."

"Then, we have nothing to worry about…no one will try and sabotage us now."

"Yes."

And so, Neji and Itachi were reunited. Both had gone through many hardships in the past eight years, but they were still able to rebuild their lives together. They went on to have two children, and lived the rest of their lives in peace and harmony, never bothered by any witches ever again.

_Fin_

**a/n:** Yay! Neji's poem/song is by Robert Burns. It's a beautiful piece of poetry, and it fit really well to the story. Obviously, I don't own it, and am not making any money off of this work.

So…I hope you all enjoyed! I was too lazy to post the chapters separately (they're really short anyways), so I hope that didn't bother you all too much. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review on your way out! I will be considering writing a sequel about Itachi and Neji's children in the future.


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